The final episodes of Game of Thrones will air
in early 2019 but HBO’s programming president Casey Bloys says that there’s no
definitive timeline in place yet: “Our production people are trying to figure
out a timeline for the shoot and how much time the special effects take. The
shooting is complicated enough — on different continents, with all the technical
aspects — and the special effects are a whole other production period that we’re
trying to figure out. That is a big factor in all of this.” We do know that the
episodes will run long. We also know that the last six episodes will be directed
by Miguel Sapochnik, David Nutter and that creator/showrunners David Benioff and
D.B. Weiss will direct the series finale. The budget for each episode will be
$15 million dollars. Once the show ends there will be a prequel series but as of
this moment we do not know what that show will be. HBO has five possible shows
in the mix from the following creators: Bryan Cogman, Max Borenstein, Jane
Goldman, Brian Helgeland and Carly Wray. All are working with George Martin to
develop their pitches. The spin-off series will not be set up or even hinted at
during the last six episodes. HBO will give the show or shows the same budget
the show has now.